RAW42
(annotated by MG Davidson) |
well well, what do we have here? matthew davidson is something really different. i'll call it new age gospel - it's definitely not progressive electronica (see genre list). no, davidson's music is more like the works of enya and adiemus.
in laudamus te (we praise thee) matthew starts out with conga jungle drums a la tom aragon's warpath, which are joined soon by beautiful female choirs. mixing the polyphone choirs must have been quite a job. the mix is good - especially the drums and the choirs sound quite impressive - and the harmonics are absolutely okay. the choir is supported by several countermelodies played on trumpet. the track could use a little bit more power and a few more special effects - a platinumverb from logic audio could have done miracles: this music simply needs a spacy ambience (choirs usually sing in churches, don't they?). however, it's quite nice, and absolutely worth the download.
kyrie (that's greek) builds up slowly with the choirs we knew already from laudamus te - after the first minute, a slow rhythm comes in. then, suddenly at 1:30 we hear this great distorted guitar - backed up by a so-called human box (drum patterns using human sounds) which is very reminiscent of nik kershaw's the works and bobby mcferrin indeed ;) unfortunately, kyrie does seem to lack structure. it would have been nice if the different parts in the music were linked by more than just the ongoing rhythm. we just go from soundscape to soundscape and yes, that sounds slightly chaotic. instruments that join the music only to go away after a few seconds, to join the music again one minute later, mostly indicate that the composer didn't know what to do next and just decided to do at least something by introducing a new instrument, unfortunately one that serves no real purpose.
in sanctus (holy) we hear, again, a choir, be it slightly ominous this time. at 1:12, when the rhythms and an accoustic guitar come in, the music gets going. it's all very nice, but it's more or less the same. you cannot base all your music on the same ingredients, at least, not if you want to call it electronic. isn't the purpose of a synthesizer to use as many king-size weird alien effects and instruments as possible? it all sounds a little bit too conventional and too tame for my taste. fortunately, at 3:15 something interesting happens, when pieces of the choir sample are taken out at regular times (synth jargon: chopping) and the long ahhhhhhh changes into short ah ah ah's that slowly, very slowly fade away. nice, very nice.
if you're into enya and adiemus, this artist is absolutely worth checking out. jarre fans better look somewhere else.
new age gospel
Barf. Totally missing the point. Entirely my fault for thinking I could pull of turning a religious work into a spiritual experience.
definitely not progressive electronica
Fair enough. Will someone please tell me what kind of music this is? It ain't New Age according to those in the know.
conga
djembe.
female choirs
Not the first person who has mistaken my singing for females.
mixing the polyphone choirs
Actually, singing it sucked. Mixing was the fun part. The best defination of polyphone I found was:
polyphone \Pol"y*phone\, n. A character or vocal sign representing more than one sound, as read, which is pronounced r[=e]d or r[e^]d.
trumpet
oboe.
platinumverb from logic audio
Reverb adds distance between the music and listener. I was trying to obtain a sense of intimacy. For the record, I used a Lexicon PCM80.
choirs usually sing in churches, don't they?
Not my choirs. Sometimes they sing in a grassy field, an empty parking lot or in your face.
(that's greek)
no comment
mostly indicate that the composer didn't know what to do next
This says to me that the metric modulation failed to have the impact I was looking for. Other people 'got it', though...
acoustic guitar
He must mean the Stick which sounds similar to an electric guitar. The synthesizer sounding stuff is electric guitar played with an Ebow through copious amounts of signal processing.
you cannot base all your music on the same ingredients
Yeah, like 808/303/909 or 'I IV V' or 'guitar, bass drums' or 'violin, viola and cello'...
not if you want to call it electronic
And here is the crux of the problem. New age people don't like Blue Forest Mass because it is not soothing enough. Electronic people don't like it because it is not electronic enough. Fact is, I have never sat comfortably in a genre before. Shopping at amazon is so much better because you don't need to know 'where' to look for what you want. You just need the title. Or artist. Being stuck in any genre stinks because you have to play by their rules. Word of mouth is the way to go, but most reviewers stick with a particular genre and this is how we find ourselves here.
isn't the purpose of a synthesizer to use as many king-size weird alien effects and instruments as possible?
Perhaps for some people. Others use it in other ways.
(synth jargon: chopping)
Real jargon: gate with a side chain trigger input
Anyway, thanks for the review and taking the time to listen. |
